Episode 167 - The 12 days of Triathlon Nutrition

The 12 days of Triathlon Nutrition

 

2024 is almost over, and I, for one, am glad. It’s been a year of challenges and I’m ready to start the next chapter in 2025.  But before that, there are still a few weeks of the festive year. And, in the spirit of the season, I'm sharing 12 transformative tips to get you through the holiday season. 

While we’ve just entered Summer here in Australia, so it’s peak race season, but I know most of the world is entering Winter which is a much slower training phase. Wherever you are, though, and no matter how much experience you have, these tips will help you to feel and perform at your best!

 

Links:

Recipe Database - https://www.dietitianapproved.com/recipes

Menu Planner - https://www.dietitianapproved.com/planner

Fuel Your Adventure - https://www.dietitianapproved.com/fuelyouradventure

Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart - https://www.dietitianapproved.com/kickstart

Triathlon Nutrition Academy - https://www.dietitianapproved.com/academy

 

Check how well you’re doing when it comes to your nutrition with our 50 Step Checklist to Triathlon Nutrition Mastery

Start working on your nutrition now with my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course 

It’s for you if you’re a triathlete and you feel like you’ve got your training under control and you’re ready to layer in your nutrition. It's your warmup on the path to becoming a SUPERCHARGED triathlete – woohoo!

Connect with me: 

To learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy, head HERE | dietitianapproved.com/academy

See behind-the-scenes action on Instagram: @dietitian.approved

Follow along on Facebook: @DietitianApproved

Join our FREE Dietitian Approved Crew Facebook group

Enjoying the podcast?

Let me know what you loved about it and what you learnt by tagging me @dietitian.approved on Instagram!

Episode Transcription

Episode 167: The 12 days of Triathlon Nutrition

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

[00:00:00] Taryn: Welcome back to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I'm your host, Taryn, an advanced sports dietitian, and I'm here to help you nail your nutrition. So that you can train harder, recover faster, and just perform to your best. What a year 2024 has been? Oh my God, on a personal level, I think 2024 was the year that was sent to test me.

[00:00:44] Taryn: Absolutely hands down. There was so many things that happened this year that I think I've probably just repressed them all. I should have written a list as I was going through, but I'm not one to dwell on the negatives anyway. I kind of just go, yep, dust off, move on next.

[00:00:59] Taryn: But right in the beginning of the year, I had almost forgotten this, but my full time admin person quit suddenly and stole a laptop. And that was the start of my year and it pretty much didn't Much better after that. As a result of that stress, I ended up with shingles and I don't know if you know what shingles is, but it's kind of an old person thing.

[00:01:20] Taryn: It is reactivation of the chickenpox virus due to stress. So that very much summarizes. So, this is how my year kicked off this year. And then, right throughout the year, so many things broke. I cannot tell you how many things have broken in my life in 2024. Big ones are the car. It was broken for months, and we didn't have it for months.

[00:01:44] Taryn: I got pretty good at writing places. We had to hire a car to get to our first holiday this year because we couldn't get there with our car. So many things are annoying when you don't have wheels to drive. Our house is broken and it is currently still broken at the time of recording, but at least it's kind of fixed.

[00:02:04] Taryn: It's almost there, but that was meant to be a one month thing and we are five months later and it is still. not rectified. My daughter broke her arm for the first time, which, oh, broke my heart. She fell out of her little sister's cot and had a buccal fracture of her wrist, which was not ideal. Thankfully, at her age, they've got really bendy, spongy bones, and it bounced back very quickly, and it was just a blip in her life.

[00:02:31] Taryn: But still, as a parent, so heartbreaking to have your little person. Hurt themselves and you know, properly hurt themselves. She sure beat me. I broke my collarbone when I was six. When I went into grade one. So she is. Highly competitive, but definitely beat me in the broken arms department. Not that that is a competition in any sense of the word.

[00:02:52] Taryn: My son split his eyebrow open, I think the next day, that week was hell week. And all of the things in my house have broken. The oven was broken, the stovetop is broken, the washing machine broke. There are so many things sent to challenge me. Now, as an evidence-based practitioner, I am. Probably the furthest from woo person you can imagine.

[00:03:15] Taryn: So I'm not woo in the slightest, but there has got to be something in all those broken things to, I don't know, have a rebirth in 2025 or something where all of those things that are broken that we've now fixed, and you know, I've got better things going on behind the scenes in my business. Hopefully 2025 is the year of big growth for us.

[00:03:37] Taryn: Now that, you know, Pretty much all of those things are fixed. We've got the car back now, thankfully. But to wrap up 2024, I wanted to do a little festive and quite practical episode for you that gives you lots of tips and tricks to get you through the holiday season. So I'm bringing you the 12 days of triathlon nutrition.

[00:03:58] Taryn: It is a countdown to a lot of essential tips to set you up for triathlon success in 2025 and beyond. Now, whether you're in peak race season, like we are here in Australia, or your winter off season base training phase overseas, or you are only just getting started in this amazing sport, these tips are definitely for you.

[00:04:19] Taryn: And as we're going through, I'm going to give you a little bit of a sneak peek into the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program as well. So grab a coffee or maybe your recovery smoothie and a pen and paper and let's get into it.

[00:04:32] Taryn: on the 12th day of triathlon nutrition, my dietician gave to me I'm not going to sing it. I could, but I'm not going to sing it. 12 recipes to make eating well, easy.

[00:04:44] Taryn: So start with some really simple, maybe even batch cooking ideas to save you so much time and ensure you're eating nutrient rich food that is ready to go and perfectly formulated for triathletes. So think things like overnight oats, recovery smoothies. some savory muffins that are nutrient rich.

[00:05:04] Taryn: Having some go to recipes can be a game changer. And particularly if you are somebody that does love to cook or love to go through recipes and find new things, we want things that are suited more for us as an active person, because it is very different to somebody that just eats generally. And my biggest bugbear with recipes online is that they aren't actually formulated for us when we do a lot of exercise.

[00:05:28] Taryn: Now, meal preparation. does not have to be boring. It also doesn't have to be time consuming. You can do things in very quick and easy ways. That is definitely my happy place is helping athletes do that because there are lots of tips and tricks to fast track you through that.

[00:05:44] Taryn: So if you need a little bit of inspiration, go and grab my free recipes at dietitianapproved.com/recipes. Here's a little taste of what's inside. There's four breakfast recipes to get you started. Breakfast smoothies, homemade muesli, my strawberry breakfast bowl and a winter warming porridge to cover all bases no matter what season you are in at the moment.

[00:06:07] Taryn: There is four main recipes. My chicken burger patties, oh my god, these are absolutely delicious. If you have not tried these yet, go and do yourself a favor and give them a go this weekend. They are nutrient rich, but pack a huge flavor punch and it's something we always have in the freezer as a really quick go to lunch option or a dinner option, particularly on Friday nights.

[00:06:28] Taryn: We've got swimming club night these days. And a barbecue or burger option is always our go to on those nights because it needs to be quick and easy and easy to eat before we run out the door. Fish tacos is in that free recipe list as well. Another good option for you, I love Mexican food, particularly Australianised Mexican food, which has been, you know, dietitian developed and dietitian approved because it is bursting full of nutrients as well.

[00:06:55] Taryn: And it's just another option instead of having ground beef or mince all the time. Mexican mince is in this list. If you do want to sub out your fish tacos for some mince, But it is a dietitian developed mince or ground beef recipe that is again, bursting with nutrients. Great one to batch cook. We have this every second week in our house and rotate through nachos, which is in our recipe database.

[00:07:19] Taryn: Tacos just as a bowl with the mince. There's always some in the freezer and it often goes in school lunch boxes as well. So one that little people love to eat of all ages. Once they're up to mixed texture, then it's a really nice nutrient which run that they can pick up with their little fingers too.

[00:07:38] Taryn: And I just realised that we have a very Mexican theme to the free recipes section but the fourth one in there is some vegetarian nachos. I did not realise I did that. Proof that I really do love Mexican food, but this is a vegetarian nacho recipe. So if you can't have fish and you can't have the mince, then go that one instead.

[00:07:55] Taryn: So maybe there was some method to the madness back in the day when I did this. And the final category is a snacks and condiments category. In there you have my bike bars, which are a great homemade option to have to fuel your bike rides.

[00:08:09] Taryn: If you haven't tried that yet, definitely go and do that. Peanut butter, because making your own peanut butter is stupidly easy. And we know when you make it yourself that there's only peanuts inside, instead of all the other random ingredients that get put into peanut butter. Protein balls, which kind of had a huge surgence maybe 10 years ago, but I know a lot of people do still like to eat them.

[00:08:31] Taryn: And they're a great little energy rich and nutrient rich snack to have on the go when you're a busy activist. There are actually lots of protein ball recipes in the database, and I've given you one to try to see if that's something that you do like. Great to batch cook, you can freeze them, so you've got a ready to go healthy snack option.

[00:08:50] Taryn: at any time because you've looked after future you and chuck some in the freezer. And then finally in this category your last one is one of my all time favorite snack recipes and that is for savory muffins. Each of these bad boys hits one vegetable serve per muffin and they go in lunch boxes, they can go in the freezer, they're a great snack if you're a savory person or you're feeling like you are hungry and you need more for a snack then these ones are for you.

[00:09:17] Taryn: You need to add them to your list. So go and grab that now. DietitianApproved.com/recipes to download 12 healthy, nutritious, and delicious recipes that have been developed by a sports dietitian for triathletes.

[00:09:32] Taryn: They are going to make sticking to healthy eating and a nutrition plan over this silly season so much easier when you've got a few things in your arsenal that you can draw from to give you a little bit of extra inspiration. All right, on the 11th day of triathlon nutrition, My dietitian gave to me 11 snacks to power your day.

[00:09:52] Taryn: So think things like rice cakes, some homemade banana bread, some protein balls, but smart snacking is keeps your energy levels stable and it helps you through a busy day, particularly if you're doing training, say morning or afternoon, or even in the middle of the day, snacking can be your best friend, but it can also be some people's absolute undoing.

[00:10:16] Taryn: Snacking is an art form if you're a triathlete. So here are some ideas to get you started. You could go some fresh fruit with some nut butter. Maybe you've just made your own peanut butter from our free recipes. Yogurt with some muesli. Maybe you've made the homemade muesli from the free recipes. And some fresh berries or frozen berries if they're not in season for you at the moment.

[00:10:37] Taryn: Crackers with hummus. This one is absolutely delicious and great if you are feeling like savoury. Just be mindful, we want to choose the right crackers there and also the right hummus because not all hummus is created equal. There is a recipe for hummus in the recipe database if you do want to make your own.

[00:10:56] Taryn: Rice cakes with cottage cheese and some sliced tomato. That is one of my personal all time faves and maybe something like an apple with a handful of nuts or mixed nuts or almonds. Something like that. Nice and crunchy and it's going to take you a little while to eat that. because there's a lot of chewing involved with both the apple and the almonds.

[00:11:14] Taryn: And sometimes we would do want to slow down and do more chewing to help us feel more satisfied from our snacks.

[00:11:21] Taryn: So all of those options have some carbohydrate in them, they have some protein in them, and they are delivering some nutrients which we tend to not do a great job of when we are thinking about snacks. They're often just a muesli bar, a granola bar, or a banana on the run. We Notice that it goes down the pile because it's gone in two bites.

[00:11:40] Taryn: And if you are looking for more recipes, you've gone and grabbed the free ones. If you want some more, then the Dietitian Approved recipe database has over 200 nutritious and delicious recipes developed by a sports dietitian for triathletes, specifically with you guys in mind. So you can go and have a look at that and check it out at dietitianapproved.com/recipedatabase

[00:12:01] Taryn: Our Triathlon Nutrition Academy athletes get that free when they join the program. And I also help them build out their entire meal plan, plus making sure they've got the right snacks in the right places at the right time. And I also dive into my healthy snack formula for those guys.

[00:12:21] Taryn: but these are some ideas to get you started so that you're thinking a bit more strategically about your snack choices.

[00:12:28] Taryn: All right, on the 10th day of Triathlon Nutrition Christmas, my dietitian gave to me 10 minutes to plan your week. I'm giving you 10 minutes. I'm not giving it to you, you have it already, but you just need to set a date with yourself and put it into your calendar to spend 10 minutes planning your meals for the week each and every week.

[00:12:50] Taryn: It is going to save you so much time and stress if you can stop for a hot minute and do some planning and organization. Because it avoids the temptation of eating out, or grabbing take away, or just grabbing like last minute things with no thought process behind it. Because you're hungry, or you're tired, and you just want to go to bed.

[00:13:11] Taryn: So I want you to spend ten minutes, every Sunday, or whatever your days off are to set your meals up for the week, including all of your snacks, your pre training and recovery. So to do that you need to review your training schedule and see what is going on where and have a think about your household logistics.

[00:13:30] Taryn: Are there certain days that are just a complete shit fight and you need a different plan? For other days we've got more time. That sort of thought process needs to go into the plan because there's no point planning an elaborate roast meal that takes hours and hours to cook on a night where you're not at home and you're coming home from training late and you need something to eat stat.

[00:13:52] Taryn: You also need to identify where you need to strategically put your pre and post training nutrition. What sessions are you doing when and where do you need to dial in those things to bookend your nutrition around training? And this is not a set and forget thing where you have the same pre training nutrition for every single session and the same recovery nutrition for every session.

[00:14:14] Taryn: They do need to be different depending on what we're trying to achieve. Once you've got it all mapped out, you then need to write your grocery list so that you can get everything that you need without having to run back to the shops multiple times because you forgot things. You will save so much time by spending, you know, 30 to 60 minutes once a week doing one big shop.

[00:14:34] Taryn: Yes, maybe you might have to run out and grab some fresh milk or some bread or something that you may have run out of. But you don't want to be going, all right, what is for dinner today on the day? And going, ah, crap, what have we got? Well, we don't have much. I'm going to have to get to the shops. Ah, I don't know what to eat.

[00:14:50] Taryn: I can't be bothered thinking about it. I'll just grab whatever. I'll just go out tonight because I can't be bothered. All those things are not looking after future you and are not putting the right things in your engine as a triathlete. You need to have a plan, my friend, just like you have a training plan.

[00:15:04] Taryn: You need to have a nutrition plan.

[00:15:06] Taryn: That small investment in time can prevent, in a big way, poor choices and just make busy training weeks so much more manageable. Inside the Academy, I teach my athletes how to create their very own meal plan on a daily basis. So that all of their nutrition is laid out for every single day of the week and the month, and the training block and the season, so that there is no second guessing and running to the shops or just getting Uber Eats because you haven't got anything organized.

[00:15:37] Taryn: If you need help in this department, go and download my free weekly menu planning template at dietitianapproved.com/planner to help you get organized with your weeks ahead.

[00:15:48] Taryn: Print it out, chuck it on the fridge or use whatever method that works for you even if it's digital and it's notes in your phone. I'm giving you 10 minutes or instructing you to use 10 minutes of your time in a week to do this one because it is huge.

[00:16:04] Taryn: Alright, on the ninth day of Christmas, we've got some hydration hacks for you. Now, hydration does not mean electrolyte tablets, does not mean sports drink, it can just mean water, but it isn't just about water. You need to understand the electrolytes that are important for us, your sweat rate, and how to stay hydrated for optimum performance, because we know that dehydration does negatively affect performance.

[00:16:32] Taryn: Staying hydrated is more than just constantly drinking water. You need to consider your sweat rate and how that changes, because it's not a set and forget thing. It's not one number that is translatable to every day or every session, swimming and swimming. cycling running. Environmental conditions also huge role in what your sweat rate is.

[00:16:56] Taryn: So you need to understand your sweat rate and what that is for you across a range of different conditions. You need to also understand how and when to use electrolyte replacement products and powders and tablets and things to replenish or to stay hydrated and well hydrated and potentially sometimes do some loading.

[00:17:16] Taryn: But again, that's not something that you just have one strategy for. It does change, and you need to understand why.

[00:17:25] Taryn: A great tip for you if you don't do this already, most people are generally good at it, but keeping a water bottle with you at all times. Don't ever get stuck without one, so keep one in the car, keep one at your desk at work, keep one obviously on the pool deck when you're training, on the bike when you're riding, and in some form while you're running, whether that's bubblers at every exercise.

[00:17:47] Taryn: stop on your route, but you need to keep on top of your hydration outside of training as well, because we don't have the same thirst drive that we get when we're exercising outside of sessions, particularly through the winter months. It's much easier to keep pace with it through summer when we're feeling hot and bothered, and we're more looking for a refreshing drink to quench our thirst.

[00:18:08] Taryn: But winter is just as important to stay hydrated, and we tend to forget that. Or we lean on things like hot chocolates and other calorie rich fluids to warm us up from the inside to help with hydration. And those things all definitely count. Tea, coffee, any liquid counts. Thanks. But if you don't know what sort of targets you're trying to hit, then you are just kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall in a way and hoping it sticks.

[00:18:34] Taryn: On the eighth day of Triathlon Nutrition, my dietitian gave to me eight types of fuel for racing. That could be things like chews, gels, sports drinks, or it could even be real food and understanding what's best for you. As well as learning how to test different choices and test different products, so that you can really dial in and optimise your race day fuel.

[00:18:57] Taryn: Now what you choose to use, whether it's gels and sports drinks, or liquid only, or real food only, Each one has its place and there is no one size fits all when it comes to race fuel. It is really about building a plan that is customized to you and the event. So gels can be really good because they are portable, they are a quick hit of energy, They have a huge range of carbohydrate content from 20 grams of carbohydrate all the way up to the precision fuel and hydration gel flow, which is 300 grams of carbohydrate.

[00:19:30] Taryn: Like, oh my God, gigantic. So huge range there. The majority on average are around 30 grams of carbohydrate though. those can be useful, but there are people that hate gels, and if you hate gels, then there are other ways to get your nutrition without having to use them. So if you don't like gels, don't feel like you have to muscle through them.

[00:19:50] Taryn: There are other ways. Chews is another one. So things like Cliff Blocks, Goo Chews, Precision Fuel and Hydration also do their chews. They are convenient, they're portable, they're quite easy to consume. And I quite like those in situations where you just want to have one at a time even. You don't have to have, say, a whole gel in one hit.

[00:20:09] Taryn: You can spread your blocks out over time. They're also really useful if you don't like gels because they are basically a solid form of a gel. Then we've got things like sports drinks, and they provide your carbohydrate, electrolytes, hydration all in one, but there are better sports drinks than others.

[00:20:27] Taryn: And again, you need to understand what's in products to know what is right for you and when you would use particular things. Because there is a huge range of products. Most people just grab whatever's at the bike shop or whatever's at the supermarket. But Getting into the nitty gritty of sports products is like one of my happiest places.

[00:20:47] Taryn: I love talking with my athletes about all the different things. So don't feel like you have to use the product that you're using right now if it's not working for you. Go out and try something else. Use the holiday season to test something new. Coke is another one that I would put in this race fueling category because it is basically a sports drink with some caffeine included.

[00:21:10] Taryn: I'm not going to dive into Coke here, but if you do want to hear my thoughts on Coca Cola, I recorded an episode 143 on what a sports dietitian says about Coca Cola. Go on, do yourself a favor and listen to that one if you haven't already. Electrolyte tablets can go in our race fueling list. It is something that people use a lot, and I want you to use that strategically, not just blanketly throw them into your bottles or whatever it is that you're doing, popping salt tablets because everyone's doing it.

[00:21:42] Taryn: Why are you doing it, first and foremost, like is the main thing, and do you actually need to do that? Because it is an expense, And it can also be not so great for your guts extra pressure on the kidneys too. So please don't blindly take sodium replacement or electrolyte replacement.

[00:21:58] Taryn: If you have no idea what you're doing, you're just doing it because you feel like you should, or you feel like If you don't, something bad's going to happen. Water definitely makes the list. You are going to need to drink water. You can't just have sports drink and no water. I talk about that all the time, and that is about understanding your hydration needs and what your overall race nutrition plan is as well.

[00:22:22] Taryn: Some that you can get at aid stations, so it's not like, You don't have to carry it on you, but it depends on who I'm talking to whether we do need to do that or not. So again, make sure you are drinking water, my friend. It is the elixir of life. Bars is another option for race fuel. There are loads of bars on the market and you might love some, you might hate some, but it is something to play with if you like to chew your nutrition or you get hungry, but that is something to add to the list.

[00:22:51] Taryn: And you can make your own. Go and grab my bike bars recipe and give that a crack, because that is a low cost way to see if you like using bars on your race plan. And then heading into that, a good segue into our eighth type of fuel is real food. You don't have to have commercial sports nutrition products.

[00:23:10] Taryn: You can definitely use real food. It's just understanding what you'd like and when you might harness the power of real food in your training and racing. So things like sandwiches, homemade rice cakes, energy balls, If you want some recipes to make your own homemade sports drink, go and grab my Fuel Your Adventure book at dietitianapproved.com/fuelyouradventure. It is a collection of homemade sports nutrition food that I have developed as a sports dietitian for triathletes. So there's lots of recipes in there, both sweet and savoury.

[00:23:45] Taryn: And there's also two homemade sports drink recipes in there as well, if that's something that you want to dabble with.

[00:23:51] Taryn: But my goal for you as a triathlete is to understand what is in your products, what is making them up, know how to read a label, and then I guess know how to craft your race nutrition plan based on the things that you like. And that is a big part of what I teach people inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy.

[00:24:07] Taryn: It's everything. understanding products first, reading labels, and then what do you need to do and what goals are we trying to achieve with your race nutrition strategy for this event? Because you don't want to set and forget race plan for every distance. You want to have the ability to evolve it and tailor it to that specific course, which is probably not something that you have ever thought about before.

[00:24:32] Taryn: Is that you do need a plan based on that event and every time you do a new event, unless it's the exact same race in the exact same course, then I want you to reassess and go, all right, what can I do better here to really optimize my race nutrition plan?

[00:24:48] Taryn: On the 7th day of triathlon nutrition, my dietitian gave to me 7 training specific meals. You want to tailor your nutrition to your training. Periodisation 101. So if you've got lighter rest recovery days, your meals and snacks may look different on those days

[00:25:08] Taryn: compared to a really high intensity, full gas, like to the hilt day where you're really trying to drive some fitness adaptations, your nutrition and meals on those days are going to look different. And then again, on a six hour ride day, a four hour ride day, your long run days. There are so many different strategies that a sports dietitian can help you with to eat specifically for those specific days so that you're getting everything that you need.

[00:25:35] Taryn: Plus not feeling starving because you've underdone it or conversely having no appetite and then not doing what you need to do. There are so many things that you can do. I feel like I bang my head against a brick wall all the time. Pulling a generic plan off the internet is never going to serve you. And if you are still eating the same thing day in, day out, then I want you to think much more differently about your nutrition as we head into 2025.

[00:26:01] Taryn: In the Academy program, I teach you how to do that specifically and really practically so that it's not hard work. There's a tiny bit of homework to understand what's going on, and then it should be plug and play. You know, like how to do that for a rest day should be easy. You should have a long list of things and levers you can pull and meal ideas that you can harness as well as the snacks on those days and timing around training sessions so that you can get the most out of your training session.

[00:26:31] Taryn: That is what we do it for, right? We do so much training. We swim, bike, run all in a week, as well as, potentially try and work full time. or part time Some people do shift work, then, you know, throw in family dynamics to that as well. You are a very high achieving, highly functional human.

[00:26:51] Taryn: And nutrition is that missing piece to get everything to work better. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. And I promise that when you have your nutrition dialed into that, it is so much easier. Eating is easier. Grocery shopping is easier. Training is easier.

[00:27:08] Taryn: And just stress levels can be lower when you know more clearly around what to do. Instead of second guessing all the time and just winging it, when you actually have a clear plan and a clear strategy for what to do, the whole process of triathlon is easier.

[00:27:23] Taryn: On the sixth day of triathlon nutrition, my dietitian gave to me six ways to nail your carbohydrate loading. You need to learn about the science of carbohydrate loading for race day success because it really does set us up. for success, we can have a one to three percent performance gain from carbohydrate loading.

[00:27:42] Taryn: I would argue that if you don't carbohydrate load at all now, or you think you do, but you're not doing it correctly, then I would think that that performance advantage is even higher because your baseline is so low.

[00:27:58] Taryn: Carbohydrate loading is not going to town at the pasta party and eating everything in sight. We need to be much more strategic around our strategies to do that. Some good tips that you need to know to nail your carbohydrate loading is one, how long prior to your race are you carbohydrate loading for?

[00:28:17] Taryn: Because it's not the same for each distance. Number two, how much carbohydrate are we actually aiming for? That is a big one that I love to manipulate at an individual level because yes, we have evidence based guidelines, but Knowing where you sit on that spectrum is really valuable to set you up for success and not failure.

[00:28:38] Taryn: Number three, what are the best foods to carbohydrate load with? Because there are easier ways to carbohydrate load and there are terrible ways to carbohydrate load. If you've ever tried it and it hasn't worked or you feel like it hasn't worked, then there is a better way. You just need to try it again with a little bit more strategy.

[00:28:58] Taryn: Number four, how many times do you practice this thing? And number five, how do you tweak it for different events so that we don't have the same thing on repeat? And then number six, how do you troubleshoot it if something is not working? That is really important, .

[00:29:14] Taryn: That you know how to fix it if it's not working in your favor. Carbohydrate loading done right is a huge performance advantage that I would love you to feel the power of.

[00:29:23] Taryn: All right. Number five.

[00:29:27] Taryn: on the fifth day of Triathlon Efficient Christmas my dietitian gave to me five breakfast strategies. Breakfast sets the tone for the day. There is a reason it's called Break the Fast, but when we do triathlon, breakfast, or the first meal or food we have for the day, often is strategically our pre training nutrition.

[00:29:51] Taryn: Or sometimes it could also mean post training recovery nutrition. And nailing that morning rhythm is key to your success as a triathlete. Breakfast can honestly make or break your entire day. And it's not until that afternoon window, typically, that we go, Oh crap, I stuffed up here, And I should have done something differently this morning, because I'm now feeling this way, X, Y, Z, in the afternoon/evening.

[00:30:20] Taryn: And if you train again in the afternoon, then that is not what we're looking for. The things that we do, At the very beginning of the day, set up our second session or our evening training. So everything is like one big giant puzzle and it's about putting all the pieces together. So five strategies to help you with breakfast is one, have a plan.

[00:30:45] Taryn: You have to have some sort of structure and plan around what you're doing for that first meal of the day, whether that's pre training nutrition, whether it's recovery nutrition, or it's just breakfast on a rest day, you need to have a plan and all of those things, all of those days, your foods could 

[00:31:03] Taryn: Training can be different. Number two is get organized. I said it earlier. You need to have a plan for all of your meals and snacks throughout the week. And getting organized is going to be key. to particularly that morning window I find. So often we are running around like a headless chicken, racing out the door to, you know, have a quick shower after training, shove something in your mouth, get the kids off to school, get to work, all those things.

[00:31:34] Taryn: And our first meal or one of those morning breakfast time meals is always something subpar. And that's because you're not organized. And that could mean getting something organized the day before. getting things packed, getting things prepped, chucking things in a container, chucking something in the freezer, whatever it is you need to do to get organized for the next morning.

[00:31:56] Taryn: It really looks after future you and it makes a huge impact on your day to day nutrition is your breakfast window food. Third one is execute said plan. it's all good to have a plan and have it all written down or be given a plan or download one from the internet, but it's up to you to execute.

[00:32:19] Taryn: I can't feed you, I can't cook for you, although many have requested that.

[00:32:25] Taryn: I don't have the time to do that. But I love equipping people with the tools and resources to take ownership of that themselves because that way you're setting yourself for success long term. You're more likely to eat well if you know what you're doing. But you need to execute the plan. Whatever it is you need to stay motivated and organized and on track.

[00:32:45] Taryn: do the thing to help set you up for success. Number four is you need to be able to assess and tweak that plan as needed. So if something's wrong or something changes or I don't know, you get thrown a curve ball and you ended up not doing your session, you need to be able to tweak that based on your training demands, your work demands, your home demands, all the things rather than having just one option and going, ah, crap.

[00:33:11] Taryn: Is this right now? I don't know. Or I'm sick. What should I be eating for breakfast? You need to be able to have the ability to tweak your plan. by knowing what's going on. And then number five in our breakfast strategies is to, when you have a plan and you're executing it and it's habitual and you're feeling like things are starting to work for you, is to add your sprinkles.

[00:33:35] Taryn: You need to be able to dial in all of your performance enhancing strategies by putting the sprinkles on top of the plan. And so teaching athletes about nutrition, we have a pyramid approach where we do the big rock foundations at the bottom and then we build other strategies on top of that that are a bit more advanced and then we go to the tip of our pyramid up the top here.

[00:33:56] Taryn: The tip of the pyramid, the sprinkles on the icing on your cake, up here there's always things that we can do and manipulate. So once you have some knowledge then we can build on that and start to really dabble in those cool one percenter performance enhancing things that can come from. a really good solid base with your nutrition.

[00:34:17] Taryn: So never skip breakfast. Always have a plan because it is the cornerstone and the foundation of your entire day of eating. And mistakes here can really rear the ugly heads, particularly later in the day or at the end of the week. You will start to notice things are not feeling so good if you haven't set your day up for success.

[00:34:38] Taryn: Alright, on the fourth day of triathlon nutrition, my dietitian gave to me four recovery essentials. I talk about recovery nutrition all the time, and there are four R's of recovery that you need to make sure you can do with every recovery meal or snack or whatever it is you're doing. They are refuel by replenishing your glycogen stores with carbohydrate, repair by including some protein for muscle recovery and repair, plus all of the other pathways that need protein for muscle protein synthesis, hormone development, and so many other components in our body.

[00:35:16] Taryn: It's more than just our muscles. You also need to rehydrate. Water is the best fluid for rehydration if you're eating, but you need to understand how much you've lost to know how much you then replace so that you're not in a dehydration hole. And then the fourth is Something that people often forget, and that's revitalize, and that is putting all of your beautiful nutrients into the system again, because there are so many of our vitamins and minerals that are precursors to all of our adaptation pathways, our immune system, our gut health, like there are so many things that you need. Thank you. like B vitamins to help with our energy production system. You can't not have these things and train to the level that you do. They are just as important as your macronutrients. So it doesn't have to be complicated, but we need to extend our thinking beyond just protein powders and protein shakes for recovery, okay?

[00:36:15] Taryn: You need to tick all of those four boxes. And if you need help in this space, then I would suggest taking my Triathlon Nutrition Kickstart course over the holidays. It is a great foundation to set you up for success and a nice little stepping stone into the bigger Triathlon Nutrition Academy program.

[00:36:33] Taryn: that you can do now while you're waiting for doors to open in January. The first lesson in that course is Recovery Nutrition Basics. And so I'm going to teach you how to dial in those four R's of recovery for you. And that is your foundational level, like that, talking about that pyramid again, it's that big base.

[00:36:50] Taryn: And then inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy, we build up that pyramid and talk about more advanced strategies for recovery and some sprinkles for recovery. So it's taking that knowledge from the Kickstart course up another level, because there is Lots of things that we can do better and do differently when it comes to recovery nutrition and then inside the academy program, recovery nutrition is week one, day one, phase one.

[00:37:16] Taryn: It is the first topic that we cover because I know so many triathletes that fail in this space and it is a big rock. It is. huge piece that you need to get right if you want to train to the level that you do. So there's Method in the Madness. I built that program to be very systematic in the way that I teach you about nutrition for a reason.

[00:37:40] Taryn: And what you do around your sessions has some of the biggest impact on your performance in those sessions and your subsequent training and your overall ability to cope with your training load as well. So if you are interested in checking out that course over the holiday period, go to dietitianapproved.com/kickstart

[00:37:57] Taryn: It is a great way to get started. If you have more time over that break or you're raring to get go, but the Academy hasn't started yet, do that first. I promise there is some major gold nuggets in there. Everyone that has done that has been like, Oh my God, This is awesome.

[00:38:15] Taryn: I can't believe I didn't know this before and now I am so ready to learn more in the Academy program. So dietitianapproved.com/ kickstart, get amongst it.

[00:38:27] Taryn: On the third day of Triathlon Nutrition Christmas, my dietitian gave to me three common mistakes to avoid. Please don't go into the new year doing any of these things. The top three mistakes that I see with triathletes are number one, under fueling, but I guess also conversely flip side of that is overfueling, just not having any idea what to do there.

[00:38:54] Taryn: And a lot of triathletes underestimate their needs, particularly on big training days, but then potentially overestimate them on more lighter recovery days. I'm just seeing this huge shift or trend for people to have more and more carbohydrate during their training sessions and racing, which is great.

[00:39:13] Taryn: But you need to understand where your kind of fueling sweet spot is because more does not mean it's better. And. Blindly following advice to hit over 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour is not necessarily going to serve you. Fueling might not be your problem. It might be hydration or other things that are problematic, and throwing more carbs at it is not going to make you feel better or perform better.

[00:39:41] Taryn: So just getting your fueling right is a big mistake. Secondly, , Oversupplementing is another big one. I once had an athlete come to see me in clinic and brought a whole duffel bag of shit he was taking, like 30 different products. And he had no idea what half of them did or why he was taking them, but he was so resistant to give any of them up because he was so worried that he wouldn't perform without them.

[00:40:11] Taryn: And you can't out supplement. a poor diet. Okay, you still need to eat the right things. Supplements are a supplement to a good foundation of a diet. You need to have that bottom of the pyramid built first before you even start looking at things like that. So please don't over supplement. A few of my athletes in the academy, I'm saving them hundreds of dollars a month because I've pulled out from their expense Things that they don't need and things that aren't serving them. Because you just need a bit of direction around what are the good things to take. not let's just try everything and see what works. The third mistake I see is just ignoring recovery or thinking that you're doing recovery, but you're not actually ticking all the right boxes for you.

[00:40:58] Taryn: So again, it's why it's in the kickstart course. It's why it's the first masterclass we cover in the academy program, because recovery is so important and skipping that is really going to leave you feeling flat and fatigued and underperforming. And sometimes you don't know how good you can feel until you get all of those levers of your nutrition pulled.

[00:41:19] Taryn: And you're like, Oh my God, this is what it's meant to feel like. We have to stop wearing our fatigue and tiredness as a badge of honor. And we need to start feeling what I call supercharged, like feeling like you've got energy to keep going after a long run or a long ride, or you can run through the finish line of a race going, I gave it my all and you know what, I reckon I could do that all over again.

[00:41:42] Taryn: so both the Kickstart course and the Academia program are there to help you with that and maximizing your results when it comes to recovery. On the second day of Christmas, my dietician gave to me two key micronutrients for triathletes. They are calcium and iron.

[00:42:00] Taryn: Now, I'm not going to dive. too deep into the details here. It is something that we talk about in the academy program as separate masterclasses right in the beginning of phase one because they are both so important for us as a triathlete. While your macronutrients are key, so getting your carbs, protein, fats right, and all of your beautiful range of micronutrients, these are two key ones that you need to make sure you're getting enough of and you're not limiting of.

[00:42:27] Taryn: because you won't perform to the best of your ability if you're not getting there. Calcium in particular is important for bone health, but it's more than just bone health because we need it for every single muscle contraction. We need calcium to do that as well as things like nerve signaling, which obviously plays a huge direct role in our performance.

[00:42:47] Taryn: So make sure you're having really good serves of calcium on a daily basis and you're meeting your needs. However old you are, whatever gender you are, and you know, every life stage has different requirements and you need to keep on top of that so that if you do shift an age group into our higher calcium needs group, then you need to match that with the food that you're eating as well.

[00:43:10] Taryn: Iron's the next one. Hugely important. It has a major role in transporting oxygen around the body, among other things. It has a long list of things that it's really important for. If you've ever been iron deficient and felt the fatigue that comes with that, then you know that you're not performing to the best of your ability if your iron levels are low.

[00:43:31] Taryn: But as an endurance athlete, you use more and you lose more. And we need to throw some high risk groups in there as well. So females, because we have monthly iron losses as well as any vegan and vegetarian athletes, because the amount of iron and quality of iron in your diet is on the lower end than somebody that does have a high intake of animal based sources, because we've got two different types of iron.

[00:43:55] Taryn: We've got our heme iron and our non heme iron. Heme iron comes from animal products and most people associate iron with red meat. It's a great source of iron, but it's also in things like chicken and fish and other white meats. And then our non heme iron is our plant based sources of iron, where you can get iron from things like lentils, chickpeas, tofu, spinach, and any of your fortified foods that you might be consuming as well.

[00:44:18] Taryn: So I'm not going to dive into that right here, but those are two key nutrients that you need to be mindful of. And as we head into the new year, I want you to make sure you're getting enough of that every day. And we're not limiting because you will need them. And long term, if you want to be 85 and still doing this sport, or even if you don't, you don't want to be an 85 year old that's got osteoporosis because you haven't done a good job of calcium and your whole body system's not working.

[00:44:45] Taryn: Okay, and on our final day of triathlon nutrition Christmas, my number one tip for boosting your performance, drum roll, please. is to join the Triathlon Nutrition Academy. Now, you may have seen that coming, but if you are tired of guessing and winging it, and you need help to build a solid plan with your nutrition in 2025, so that you can set yourself up for your best season ever, then come and join us in the Academy program.

[00:45:15] Taryn: Doors 20th of January to the 27th, with our first Masterclass unlocking on the 25th of Jan, so that's Recovery Nutrition.

[00:45:24] Taryn: Nutrition really is the fourth leg of triathlon and if you haven't done anything to dial that in yet, then this is your gentle kick in the butt to do it. Because without a proper plan, you are leaving so much performance on the table. If you join the wait list now, I'm giving you a little bit of a gift.

[00:45:41] Taryn: I'm going to gift you 50 off the triathlon nutrition kickstart course. So all you have to do is go to dietitianapproved.com/academy now join the waitlist for our next intake in January and I will send you an email with a discount code to use against that course.

[00:45:59] Taryn: Now is a great time to do it, so go and grab that discount and get Learning About Nutrition now to set your 2025 up for the best year ever.

[00:46:09] Taryn: Alrighty, that is a wrap on our 12 days of triathlon nutrition. How fun was that? I hope you had fun following along that with me. And no, I didn't sing. I spared your ears. I don't think you need to hear that. My husband tells me I'm tone deaf, but I think he's wrong. So think of these tips as my little holiday gift to you.

[00:46:30] Taryn: Lots of tools to feel smarter, and and just get your shit together when it comes to nutrition. Go and grab all those freebies that I mentioned in. If you've were on the wind training or you're going for a run and you've lost the links, they will be in the description below. So I want to know what is your takeaway from today?

[00:46:49] Taryn: Maybe it's getting those 12 free recipes and you're going to start to cook some of those things or printing my weekly menu planner template and chucking it on the fridge and actually filling it out, please. And. Implementing that for one of these weeks where maybe you've got a bit more time over the silly season. 

[00:47:04] Taryn: whatever it is, I would love to hear it. Come and share it with us inside the Dietitian Approved Crew Facebook group. It is free to join. You can search for it on groups on Facebook, Dietitian Approved Crew and come and share with me what you are working on over the holiday season. hope you have a wonderful silly season, festive season, Christmas, whatever it is you call it.

[00:47:26] Taryn: Spend some time with family, have a great time doing some training, maybe shake it up, do some different things in the kitchen. I am leaving you with two epic episodes over the next couple of weeks through the Christmas break. And I will be back in the first week of January with some new year, new PR goals and intentions for you and new year's resolutions.

[00:47:48] Taryn: So I look forward to seeing you in 2025! Woohoo!

 

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!